Juniper card-what would a wise person do?

[cindyda1]

Hi,

I have a Juniper (Apple credit) c-card with a credit line of $3,400. I got behind on the card months ago and due to the 29.9% interest rate and late charges of $39.00...my card went up over the limit..they would not work with me..my balance with them is now $3,684.13...it has been over the limit for quite a few months now. I am unfortunately in a position where I am only able to pay the minimum pmt each month and some months have been a few days late...adding another $39.00 to my balance plus interest. Here is an example of what is happening. In July my pmt. due was $76.00..$73.37 of that went to finance charges! leaving only a whopping $2.63 going to my balance and on top of that another $39.00 over limit fee added....getting me obbviously no-where but further in the hole! I called Juniper to see if they would work with me on this ridiculous situation and they informed me that all they could do was remove half of the over limit fee for one month and half of a late charge for one month and then transferred me to another spe******t who stated they could lower my interest to a lovely 28.9% in an effort to "help me out". I am ticked at myself because this months pmt due was $81.00 and I sent a pmt in for $100 to the jackasses....still leaving me with no progress..making me a bigger jackass. My delemma is this: I don't want my credit to tank again by letting this go into charge off..but neither do I want to continue sending them minimum pmt each month for nothing! I can't afford to even get out from under the over limit amt. Is it worth it to let my credit tank over a charge off with them in this situation? I realize I probably need to purposefully get behind with them at least 90 days before they will work with me......I might be able to borrow money from a relative to get out fom under the overlimit amt..but at this point i resent paying them another dime at all.

[Denita]

I would call them and ask for their hardship department.

This is not typically the CSR that answers the phone. The CSR's do not make it easy to get to the hardship dept. You probably need to close your account in order to make an arrangement with them with a reduced interest payment (in the lines of 0% to 4%). Don't close your account UNLESS they make the arrangement with you. They may want an auto draft from your checking account - do not do this. Instead set up a pre-paid reloadable debit card (like a Walmart card or something similar) that only has the amount of monthly payment you agree to (plus a little cushion so you don't get a decline). This way if there are other issues they do not have their hands on your bank account.

They will not make this easy for you to do...but you can do it. Just be persistent.